WoW Dataminers Think They’ve Discovered A New Playable Race

World of Warcraft’s The War Within expansion is set to officially introduce one new playable race, but dataminers think they’ve discovered a second, hidden Allied Race that could become playable in the future.

The War Within just launched its public alpha test, and the dataminers over at Wowhead have wasted no time combing through the game’s files to discover new armor sets, ability changes, and more. One of the most interesting discoveries so far is a new NPC race, the Harronir. They look to be a “missing link” of sorts between Trolls and Night Elves, with some fans already referring to the race as Dark Elves or Dark Trolls.

The Harronir have a surprising amount of customization options for a simple NPC race, and even a set of armor that very much looks like it could be their unique racial Heritage Armor, something that Blizzard has worked on giving to each playable race over the last few years. Options for Harronir even appear in fields alongside other playable races in the game’s files, certainly making them appear to be more than just NPCs.

As Wowhead notes, it expected to see plenty of customization options for the officially announced Earthen playable race as it started its datamine of The War Within’s alpha, but “seeing so many options for the Harrionir took us by surprise.” In previous expansions, NPCs with an abnormal amount of customization options, like the Vulpera and Nightborne, did eventually go on to become Allied Races.

Blizzard has not officially announced the Harronir as a new playable race, but the evidence does seem to line up. The Earthen are essentially stone Dwarves, and while they are able to join both factions, they definitely feel more at home standing alongside the other Alliance races. Adding a new playable race later on in the expansion that would appeal more to Horde fans in the form of Dark Trolls would make sense.

We recently went hands-on with The War Within’s alpha and said it felt very similar to Dragonflight, but not in a bad way, even if new features like Delves didn’t make much of an impression. What is clear is that The War Within is looking to raise the narrative stakes in Blizzard’s longrunning MMORPG, with the expansion’s opening moments destroying a beloved city and potentially killing off a major character.